Tech News Vermont

My DSL service has returned and seems to be better than ever.  Fairpoint was very responsive via Twitter and e-mail.  I got several direct messages from @MyFairpoint and an email that kept me in the loop with everything that was going on with my service.

I know that WCAX or the Free Press won’t be interested in my story, because it was a fairly standard service call.  I wonder how many customers Fairpoint helps versus the few horror stories we read about in the media?

The Macbook Pro issues resolved nicely, but now the connectivity issue has derailed the show.  I’ve got no DSL at the northern command post  presently and Fairpoint said they would fix it in 2-3 business days.  That puts me at tomorrow…

Fairpoint handed in their filing on the last day of the extention they were granted by the Vermont Public Service Board.  The company has to show something to the state in order to keep Fairpoint’s certificate of public good.  Vermont Public Radio’s web site is reporting that the filling has arrived at the public service board.  The PSB is not commenting, since they haven’t had a chance to review Fairpoint’s filing.

When do Vermonters get to see the filing?  Soon I hope.  I’d like to see what Fairpoint said and how they said it.  They are facing tough times in New Hampshire and haven’t been able to keep their commitment to expand broadband on the eastern side of the Connecticut river, what have they done for Vermont?

What’s the next step if Fairpoint’s paper doesn’t convince the PSB that Fairpoint deserves to continue operating phones in Vermont?   I don’t think it will come to that.  The PSB won’t cancel Fairpoint’s license; they can’t.  There is no other company ready or even interested in Vermont’s telco infrastructure.

I’m unable to FTP over my Fairpoint DSL line, so the podcast will be delayed again.  I did try to get help from Jonathan via the on-line chat and he told me that there was no reported problems with ftp and that if I wanted further help to call the 1-800 number, then he dropped the chat.  I’m sure he’s busy and ftp is such an old technology that who cares if the one guy that says nice things about Fairpoint in his podcast can’t post it.

I really do think it’s something in the Fairpoint network.  I’ve tried Mac, PC, Solaris, and Linux ftp clients to a number of ftp sites around the network.  None of them work for any machine.  I know ftp works from my main Mac since I just used it yesterday at the VTC campus (internally at the college)  I’ll try to ftp beyond the campus tomorrow and see if it’s something in the residential DSL network or the larger Fairpoint infrastructure.